NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on poisoning of Navalny

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg on Friday condemned the "appalling assassination attempt" on Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and said Russia had "serious questions" to answer.

Stoltenberg spoke at a news conference after NATO's North Atlantic Council was briefed by Germany over its findings Navalny was poisoned with a nerve agent from the Novichok group.

He said the use of chemical weapons showed a "total disrespect for human lives" and called on Russia to cooperate with an Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) investigation.

"Time and again we have seen opposition leaders and critics of the Russian regime attacked and their lives threatened", Stoltenberg continued.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman has brushed off allegations the Kremlin was involved in poisoning the Russian leader's most determined critic, accusing Germany of not providing Moscow with any evidence about Navalny's condition.

Navalny fell ill on a flight to Moscow on August 20 and was taken to a hospital in the Siberian city of Omsk.

He has been in an induced coma in a Berlin hospital after being flown from Siberia to Germany for treatment more than a week ago.

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